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Monday, June 6, 2011

Summer Harvest Begins

I'll start with the crops that are kind of on the shoulder of the season. The first is the "perpetual spinach" chard. The one on the left, that's been chopped down to about an inch and a half high, featured in last night's supper.

Most chard varieties produce good food right through the summer. In the very worst of the heat, the plants look pretty sad and aren't quite as tasty, but they perk up again in the fall.

The harvested chard went inside a batch of stuffed shells (greens sauteed in olive oil with onions, garlic, and Italian herbs; mixed with ricotta cheese and a little grated Parmesan; stuffed into mostly-cooked shells; covered with pasta-sauce; cooked until bubbly; grated mozzarella strewn on top). The onions that were in the skillet with the wilting greens and garlic were also from the yard.

It wasn't my greatest onion year. I didn't plant a very big patch (concentrating more on garlic), and the bulbs didn't get as big as usual, but they are still onions!

The "potato onions," or multipliers, are still out in the garden, so there will be a few more to add to the onion pile in another week or so.

This morning, while walking around the yard with my cup of tea, I stopped to check the little patch of bush beans and saw some that were finally big enough for harvest. These came inside with me when I got home from work.

A zucchini also looked just about "eatin' size."

Joe watered the garden while I was gone (when the afternoon temperature gets over 90 degrees F, watering is important!), and he said he thought it had grown since I left.

When I went to look at it, I had to agree, so the zucchini came in, and it will join the handful of green beans, an onion, and some sugar snap peas (nearly the last...) in a stir-fry.

When the green beans and zucchini start producing for the kitchen, that's when I know it's really summer!

3 comments:

Re: squash stems from last post. A few of mine did that last year but they produced all summer. To keep vine borers away I wrapped the stems with aluminum foil and it worked all year last summer. Not tight but a loose collar with extra overlap which I kept adjusting. I didn't have vine borers at all last year so I'm doing the same this year and hoping for the same outcome.

Barbara, Thanks for the tip about aluminum foil! I think I will quite spraying one of the plants, and wrap its stem in aluminum foil to compare the two strategies. The foil strategy would mean that I don't have to remember to spray!

Xysea, It's all drought here, too. The squash can take it just fine, but I expect my tomatoes and peppers to languish if we don't get some rain in the next few weeks. Even though it's been in the 90s here most days for a while now, I think its probably been hotter longer in your area. That makes it even worse for your plants. Hope we all get "just enough" rain soon!

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About Me

I've been gardening in this yard in NW Georgia for more than 20 years. Before moving here, I gardened on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, where growing food was MUCH easier. I've learned a lot, and I keep learning more every season.